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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28991241">she’s my steady, i’m her man</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitchasslowry/pseuds/bitchasslowry'>bitchasslowry</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Men's Hockey RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - 1950s, Alternate Universe - Greasers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Light Angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:08:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,603</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28991241</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitchasslowry/pseuds/bitchasslowry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>ORIGINALLY POSTED ON TUMBLR ON MAY 5TH 2020</p>
<p>You’ve been noticing Matthew change, but he’s been noticing you for a completely different reason.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Matthew Tkachuk/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>she’s my steady, i’m her man</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this is a reader insert that i am transferring over to here instead on keeping it on tumblr. if this isn’t your thing, just turn around now. </p>
<p>inspired by the Happy Days theme song</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was no shock to anyone when Matthew started hanging out around the greasers. You along with Taryn and Brady saw it happen right in front of your eyes; the leather jacket, hair slicked back and the way he talks changed. At home he was the same though, always picking at his siblings and taking time out of his day to hang around you.</p>
<p>But at school it’s like you don't exist. You had met Taryn back in freshman year and immediately hit off with her, meeting Brady later on and becoming close with him too. Matty would also come into the picture later on and you both got along swimmingly with each other, so much to the point where Taryn was suspecting something was going on between the two of you. But now sitting down in the cafeteria of your school, Matthew seemed to act like he barely had any siblings.</p>
<p>Taryn and yourself are sitting down on one of the tables close to the windows and you’re picking at the fruit salad you had packed for the day. She is munching on a sandwich herself and you’re both in comfortable silence until Brady comes sliding up beside you, his friend Quinn sitting himself down beside Taryn.</p>
<p>“So, was M. Julien just as miserable for you two as he was for me today? I swear that man needs to retire…” Brady huffs, taking a chunk out of his apple. </p>
<p>“Oh you know it. Just like every other day,” you chuckled out elbowing him in the side. “I seriously feel bad for Vic. He has him first thing in the morning for his homeroom.”</p>
<p>Quinn comically shudders and fixes his hair a little and lets a single piece fall on his forehead. He sighs and looks out the window and your eyes follow what he’s staring at. Outside in the parking lot is the group of guys that Matty has been oh so recently hanging out with. Auston, or better known to everyone as just simply Matthews, is leaning on his bike and has an arm slung around practically his other half, Mitch Marner. How those two get along is beyond you.</p>
<p>Mitch regularly hangs out with you and Taryn, is on student council and wears cardigans for the love of god. Still, there he is, Matthews smiling down at him as he probably tells some god awful joke to another guy in their group, Carter Hart. Right in between Hart and yet another guy, Brandon Carlo, is Matthew lighting up a cigarette.</p>
<p>You mirror Quinn’s sigh and turn back to your salad. “My brother is starting to hang out with them too. I don’t know what to tell him honestly.”</p>
<p>Quinn isn’t lying. Beyond the small group of guys is Jack talking to around three girls, each with almost identical poodle skirts on and looking at him with big doe eyes. It made you all sick. He’s a sweet guy but none of you knew why the girls flocked around him. Sure, he’s alternate captain of the junior varsity hockey team but you don’t see chicks doing that to Toews that often. Still, Matthew sort of feeds into that and also has girls around him too.</p>
<p>The conversation slowly dwindles away from the greasers to another useless topic before the third period starts. Quinn and Brady make their way to English while Taryn simply stays in the cafeteria due to her spare, leaving you to walk to psychology by yourself. You made it to your locker when you felt someone slide up beside you and lightly push at your locker door.</p>
<p>“What are you doing later on tonight?” You would recognize that voice anywhere. Matthew.</p>
<p>You close your locker door and shove your calculator for your fourth period data management class in the back pocket of your jeans. “Hanging out with your sister… what are you doing, Matty.”</p>
<p>“What do you mean?”</p>
<p>You shrug and hug your textbooks a little closer, turning to begin walking to your class. “You never talk to me at school.”</p>
<p>Matthew’s face falls into a frown and sort of hangs back from you a little. He huffs and mumbles, ”Yeah I do...”</p>
<p>“Do you know that I eat lunch with Taryn and Brady everyday and you haven’t joined us once? Matty, you’re still my friend but I think Auston and his group are rubbing off on you a little.”</p>
<p>And with that you duck into your class, leaving Matty outside in the hall attempting to process what you said to him. He brushes off his jacket, combs back his hair once and moves on.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>Taryn is currently towel drying her hair while you flop yourself down on her bed. You are still thinking about the odd encounter with Matthew from a couple days ago and Taryn snaps her fingers in front of your face. “Jeez, what’s got you so spaced out?”</p>
<p>You roll over onto your stomach and ponder for a second. “Has Matty been acting weird at all lately?”</p>
<p>Taryn scrunches her nose up and shakes her head no and asks why. “It’s just…” you sigh. “The other day he asked me in the hall what I was doing that night and I don’t know how to take it. He never talks to me at school.”</p>
<p>She takes a pretzel stick from the bag on her vanity and her eyes go a little bit wider. “I don’t know, Y/N. Sorry.” You shrug and motion for her to pass you a pretzel. Taryn instead, chucks the whole bag at you and you calmly flip her off.</p>
<p>The two of you spend about half an hour before you excuse yourself to go get a glass of water and hop down to the kitchen. You weren’t expecting to find Matthew sitting on top of his counter eating a piece of bread.</p>
<p>“How’s it going,” he asks around his chewing. You shrug and grab a glass and hold it under the sink faucet. Beside you, you can hear Matthew climb down from the counter and the heat of his body next to you. You immediately stopped the water and tried not to drop the glass when his hand came around to gently rest on your waist.</p>
<p>You turn your head to find him staring directly at you, eyes soft and apologetic. From his angle you can see the faint dusting of freckles on his face and the curls of his hair beginning to peek through the layer of gel that rivals that of Patrick’s from your stats class. “Matt-”</p>
<p>“Look, I’m sorry about the other day. I just- I notice okay? You and Quinn were looking at all of us and I noticed.” You nod and he somehow gets even closer to you, but you don’t mind. “I need to ask you something.”</p>
<p>You nod your head silently and he leans his head down just ever so slightly. “Go to the formal with me?”</p>
<p>Fuck, right. It was beginning to be that time of the year and to be quite honest you don’t know how you could forget with Mitch telling you to buy your ticket nearly every day. Matt is looking down at you expectantly while you go through the pros and cons in your head. People knew that you’re friends with Taryn and Brady of course but virtually no one would ever live you and Matthew going to a dance together down.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, you couldn’t say no to him. And quite frankly, this is something that you have been thinking about since you met him back in your freshman year. You raise one hand and place it on his upper arm almost as a comforting tactic. “Yes, Matty. I’ll go with you.”</p>
<p>He smiles and bends down to kiss you on the cheek, walks over to grab his half eaten piece of bread and scampers off to wherever. You stand in the kitchen, still trying to figure out what just happened for the next ten minutes. When you see their father, Keith, walk into the kitchen as well you figure it’s about time to face the music and find Taryn again.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>Over the course of the next week a lot of things happen in preparation for the formal right before everyone says goodbye for the next two weeks of break. Matthew has bought both of your tickets, which got an odd look from Mitch who was selling them but gave them to him anyways. </p>
<p>Taryn ends up getting asked by a guy named Connor who she knows from her nutrition class to go as friends and she accepted. He’s some big hot shot hockey player for the province and she jokes at how her dad will be happy. Brady and Quinn on the other hand have ditching the whole date thing and are going stag.</p>
<p>Matthew, over the course of the week, had become a little bit more clingy to you in the halls. He would walk you to class and swing by halfway through lunch to say hi to you, Quinn and his siblings. It was really nice to have him around but you’re still suspicious at what he has up his sleeve for that Friday night.</p>
<p>The time for the dance eventually rolls around and you get there early to help Mitch put the finishing touches on the gym just in time for people to start filing in. Girls and guys even from other schools start working their way in, dancing to the music and picking at the snacks you, Mitch and his buddy Dylan have put out. </p>
<p>The dance is in full swing and the group of you, Taryn, Connor, Quinn and Brady are all dancing together and sipping on the mock tails made by one of the science teachers. Ritchie Valens’ voice flowed through the gymnasium and you catch at the look Mitch, who’s talking with Dylan and another guy Alex, is making towards the doors where people are still making their way in. </p>
<p>He’s beaming wide which only means one thing. You spin around, skirt moving along with you, to see Matthew and Auston  with the rest of their group following close. All of them are sporting their leather jackets and jeans and splitting off towards wherever they need to be as soon as they get inside. Matthew spots his brother and figures you’re around there too. </p>
<p>Matthew slides up behind you and lightly grips your waist just like he did in his kitchen about a week ago. You didn’t feel him coming so once you feel his hands you jump a little bit. In front of you, Taryn is smirking and is soon enough motioning for the rest of them to follow her to leave you and Matt alone. </p>
<p>“You look really pretty tonight, darling’,” he mumbles into your ear and you instinctively smile, spinning yourself around to face him for the first time tonight. When you actually get a look at him your jaw hangs a little low. You weren’t able to get a good look at him with the lighting of the gym when he walked in with Auston, but now that he’s inches away from you you can see that he decided to ditch his regularly slicked back hair and let his curls loose and fall over his face.</p>
<p>You reach up and card your fingers through his hair lightly while he plays a bit with the top of the pleats in your skirt. “I like this. A lot.”</p>
<p>“I know,” he says playfully smirking and leaning back to take your hand and pull you towards the majority of the student population in the center of the gymnasium. “You told me one time when you first met Taryn that my hair shouldn’t have to suffocate if I do remember your words correctly.”</p>
<p>He smiles, a sincere Matthew Tkachuk smile, and proceeds to tug you over to Taryn and Brady. </p>
<p>For the next hour or so you and Matthew try your hand at dancing which ends about as well as you would think it does but you have a good time. During one of the slow songs he pulls you close and hums along to Elvis in your ear, still smiling as he does so. Matt singing with Buddy Holly and Chubby Checker to you was not something that you were expecting to get this evening but you sure as hell got it.</p>
<p>The night is winding down and Mitch tells you that he’ll just keep Auston behind to help him take down the decorations so you’re free to go home, sending a wink your way when he spots Matthew at your side.</p>
<p>It may be almost Christmas but it hasn’t gotten incredibly cold yet and your house is close to the school, so Matthew opts to walk you home and you accept. You both walk in silence for a while until he speaks up.</p>
<p>“I had a lot of fun tonight. More than I have in a while.” You look over at him and reach out to link his hand with yours.</p>
<p>“Me too. I like this you a lot better,” you explain, giving him a look up and down. He cocks his head to the side in question and you answer. “Don’t get me wrong, I like the whole greaser look, but a greaser that’s a little soft around the edges.”</p>
<p>He nods and smirks, shaking his head a little making his curls bounce. You chuckle and squeeze his hand a little bit tighter. Before too long you get to the front of your house and Matthew leans in the entranceway by your door.</p>
<p>“I definitely want to do this again, just so you know,” you say, sort of nervously playing with the scarf you tied into your hair. Matthew agreed and pushed himself off of the wall. You don’t know what compelled you to ask him. Maybe it was the soft glow of the lights of your house that hit his face just right or some other unknown reason, but you asked him nonetheless. “Can I do something?”</p>
<p>“Of course, sweetheart.” You move closer to him and reach behind his neck, pulling him down ever so slightly and pressing your lips against his. The kiss is light and calm, no rush or need behind it. It’s just nice.</p>
<p>You both pull back for air and he rests his forehead on yours, once again leaning back in and kissing your cheek sweetly. The two of you seem to have permanent smiles on your faces and it only just gets better. Matthew pulls back all the way and shucks off his jacket. </p>
<p>He reaches out with it in his hand. “I want you to wear this at school when we go back. If you want of course.”</p>
<p>You take the jacket in your hands and take in the crest of the school's hockey team on the back along with the number 19 on the arm. You smirk at him and your eyes crinkle up with it.</p>
<p>“Matthew Tkachuk, are you asking me to go steady with you?” You ask, rubbing the leather over with your fingers. Matt is left in a white t-shirt and his jeans, probably freezing his ass off but he doesn’t seem to mind. He shrugs and nods.</p>
<p>You look down at the ground before slipping one arm into the jacket and then fully putting it on. After it’s on, you do a little spin around and Matty looks at you with probably the happiest expression you have ever seen him muster.</p>
<p>“What do you think?”</p>
<p>“I think I want you to be my girl.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>find me on tumblr @bitchasslowry</p></blockquote></div></div>
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